8 July 2014 Current Affairs
Union Railway Budget 2014-15
Union Railway Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda on 8 July 2014 presented his first Railway Budget in Parliament. This is the first rail budget presented by any Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) minister and it is also Sadanand Gowda’s first rail budget.
Union Railway Budget 2014-15 Highlights :-
* No new increase in passenger fares and freight charges
* Bullet train on Mumbai-Ahmedabad Sector
* Diamond quadrilateral for high speed trains
* Plan to hike speed of trains to 160-200 km/hr in 9 sectors
* Online booking to support 7,200 tickets/minute; to allow 1.2 lakh users log in simultaneously
* Women RPF Constables to escort ladies coaches; 4,000 women constables to be inducted
* Feedback services through IVRS on quality of food
* Cleanliness budget up by 40 pc over last year
* 58 new trains and extension of 11; 864 additional EMUs to be introduced in Mumbai over 2 years
* FDI in railway projects, except in operations.
* FDI, domestic investments in rail infrastructure
* Office-on-Wheels: Internet & Workstation facilities on select trains
* Wi-Fi in A-1, A category stations and in select trains
* Rail university for technical and non-technical subjects
* Loss per passenger per kilometre up from 10p (in 2000-01) to 23p (2012-13)
* Solar energy to be tapped at major stations
* Highest ever plan outlay of Rs 65,455 crore for 2014-15
* Expenditure in 2014-15 pegged at Rs 149,176 crore.
India Successfully Tested BrahMos Supersonic Cruise Missile
India on 8 July successfully test-fired the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from a defence base in Odisha. It has a range of 290 km and can carry a conventional warhead of up to 300 kg. The test was successful. It was a land version of BrahMos.